28 



THE UTILITY OF FORESTS. 



upon the inland navigation of the United States that is exerted 

 by the West Virginia mountain region. 



"It is not in man's power to cut off or lessen to any great 

 extent the total quantity of water flowing year by year from the 

 West Virginia mountains into the streams, but it is within his 

 power to largely control the manner in which the water is 

 furnished. By keeping the mountains forested, a steady supply 

 will be available ; but if the woods are destroyed, the water will 

 go down as destructive floods when rain has fallen, and it will 

 as quickly disappear when rains cease — too much at one time, 

 and not enough at another. It is within man's power to protect 

 navigable channels from another danger — that of filling with 

 gravel and mud washed from the land. To accomplish this, the 

 mountains should be kept well covered with woods. 



"The commerce on West Virginia rivers, or those depend- 

 ing very largely upon this state for water, is shown in the fol- 

 lowing table, the figures being for 1906 : 



Big Sandy . . . . 

 Great Kanawha 

 Little Kanawha 

 Monongahela . . 

 Ohio 



Total 



148,623 tons 

 1,613,889 tons 



106,510 tons 

 11,447,444 tons 

 13,163,656 tons 



26,480,122 tons 



"This is more than one-fifth of the total river commerce of 

 the United States. There are 282 navigable streams, and the 

 five named above carry 20 per cent of the freight. Little of it 

 would be carried without the water which flows from the moun- 

 tains of West Virginia. For that reason, this state is of 

 supreme importance to the nation's inland water commerce. A 

 greater tonnage originates on the banks of the Monongahela^ 

 and is carried by it, than on any other river of the Western 

 Hemisphere. A few rivers carry more, but much of it is fur- 

 nished by tributary streams or comes from the sea. There are, 

 however, only four rivers in the United States which actually 

 carry more than the Monongahela, and two of these, the Ohio 



